So…. the Boston Marathon was kind of my big THING this year. And as with anything you do in life, people always want to know what’s coming up next.

• Get married, people want to know when you’ll have a kid
• Have a kid, people want to know when you’ll have another
• Run a big race, people ask when the next one is
• Read all the way to the end of the post for a giveaway

First up on the agenda… is to rest. I haven’t run since the race a week ago. I have the itch to run… but I promised myself I would take at least two weeks off from running after the marathon. And even though I came through the race remarkably unscathed, I do have a toenail that is sore. At race finish I had a sore toe and the top 1/3 of the toenail came off a couple of days after the race and I thought I was all set. But another toenail on the other foot is getting blacker and has some pain. So I’ll give it another week to chill out.

 

After a week off from any kind of specific exercise (I did a lot of stretching and foam rolling this past week, just because I felt like I “should” do it but there was no targeting of any areas that were in need) I feel the need to have a little more structure. And as I mentioned before, I’d like to do a lot more Barre3 workouts. I would LOVE to go to studio classes, but all of the barre studios are a good drive from my house, so it’s not like I can truly run out to do it on my lunch hour… unless I want to do a “lunch 2 hours.” 🙂 So Barre3 online and DVDs are what it will need to be.

I have a couple of half marathons I’m already registered for, one in August and one in September. I have seen ads for a great race that is in July and I get tempted to sign up for it each time I see one… but I haven’t yet.  I also have my eye on a Ragnar Relay in the fall… or maybe two. If I get trigger-happy, I may just join a team of random strangers for the Vegas Ragnar once more… it’s kind of an adventure to do that!

Something I did learn through this training cycle is that I should really keep a better log of what I’m doing on each day and each week. Pay attention to the meals that I’m eating the night before a long run and see if there are any patterns between the rough days and what I eat or if it’s just random dumb luck. There are a lot of online logs… but I definitely wouldn’t want to use a public forum for this kind of information. There are runners out there who are comfortable sharing all of the bad details, the boring details, the pointless details with anyone who happens to look online… I’m not one of those runners!

So I’m going to try a paper log for the next few months. I received a great one from Journal Menu and I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised at how many nice little details have gone into this planner. I got to choose my own photo that wrapped around the covers, so I used a photo I took in Hawaii on a trail a few years ago.

There is more inside than just blank spots to write down your information. There are a few sample training plans for 5K, half marathon and marathon.

Fortunately, these only take up about 6 pages, so if you aren’t interested in those it’s not like you’re losing a ton of usable space. There are pages for you to write out your plans for races.

And also to write a review of the race:

The bulk of the pages are designed to be used for tracking the day-in-day-out training. It’s nice because it gives you cues on various things that you could be recording to look for patterns to success/disappointment in your training that you may not remember on your own:

And I like that there is a little motivational quote at the top of each page too! I’m going to give it a try and I’ll let you know how I like a paper option!

If you would like to get your own journal, I’ve got a giveaway for one! And it doesn’t have to be a running journal… take a look at the Journal Menu site, they have a TON of options for personalized journaling.

Giveaway closes on May 5 and all entries must be registered through the Rafflecopter widget. Winner must be in the US. Winner will be chosen randomly and will be emailed. Contact information will be passed over to Journal Menu for prize redemption.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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